By the Lonely River
by Cielag
Summary: As Lester nurses a wound caused by a Protosuchus, danger lurks nearby.


**Characters:** Abby Maitland and James Lester  
><strong>Rating:<strong> K+  
><strong>WarningsSpoilers:** none  
><strong>Author's Note:<strong> "Primeval" doesn't belong to me, at all, and I am merely borrowing characters.  
><strong>Summary:<strong> As Lester nurses a wound caused by a Protosuchus, danger lurks nearby.

* * *

><p>For once Lester didn't mind Abby Maitland's presence and in this circumstance he actually welcomed it. Whilst the others had made sure that the anomaly was secured and that the creatures that came through wouldn't want to stay very long, Abby had stayed behind to make sure that he was going to be all right. Lester had tried to play off his injury as nothing more than a scratch, but he knew better. Fortunately for him, the grip the Protosuchus had on him wasn't very strong and so the puncture wounds weren't deep at all.<p>

Didn't stop it from hurting though.

"Here, this will keep you warm," said Abby as she came from the back of the van with a blanket and offered it to Lester, who took it and opened it up.

"Right, this will do. Thank you," said Lester and he cleared his throat, unwilling to express just how truly grateful he was for this.

With his one good hand, Lester brought the blanket over himself and settled in the seat. It wasn't nearly as comfortable as being back in his nice cosy office nor was it as relaxing as being back in bed, but for the moment, this would all do. At least he didn't have to be outside in the cold chasing some obnoxious prehistoric beast that had developed a sudden taste for humans. He'd leave that for the monster-wranglers.

"Are you feeling any better?" Abby asked suddenly from the back of the van.

"About as well as I can given the circumstances," replied Lester calmly.

"What about your hand? The painkiller's set in, yeah?"

"Yes, it's quite fine," replied Lester gruffly. At that moment fiery pain radiated from where he had been bitten and Lester drew in a sharp hiss. To his immediate annoyance, Lester felt Abby move in the van to take a look at him. He asked, "Are you sure that damned thing wasn't poisonous?"

"It was a Protosuchus," replied Abby with a frown. "They're the Triassic relative of the crocodile and can move effectively on land."

"Yes, I saw…" Lester grumbled, remembering how quickly that thing had chased him down.

"They're not poisonous."

"It still bit me."

Abby stared at her boss, a look of amusement shone plainly on her features. She turned quickly and went back to her spot in the van where Lester detected the sound of a jacket being zipped up.

"You're not going out there alone are you?"

"They might need me."

"Cutter's fine out there, I'm sure," replied Lester and he frowned as he gazed into the darkness of the park. "You can stay here. Get some rest whilst you can."

"No, I'll be fine out there."

Lester shifted in his seat and looked back at Abby with worry. It wasn't like him to feel so concerned about anything except politics and his own well-being, but at this particular moment, all Lester could feel was a cold fear that was spreading upwards from his stomach as though something truly awful was going to happen.

"Don't go, stay!" said Lester quietly, his voice coming across as a gasp more than a demand.

Abby looked at him in confusion.

"Just stay here and don't argue."

For a moment Abby sat still and inclined her head slightly to listen. Then very carefully she moved towards Lester's seat.

She asked in a whisper, "What did you see?"

A movement from the right side caught Lester's attention and he slowly turned his head. Off in the near distance he saw two large shadows moving. Their height couldn't quite be determined as they constantly bobbed their heads. When one opened its mouth, Lester saw rows of teeth and a cold shiver went down his spine.

Meat-eaters. How he loathed meat-eaters!

"I have no idea what they are but whatever it is, it's not good," replied Lester.

Abby peered over him and saw the creatures as they stepped into the dim lighting of the moon. The tails were slender and long. They swished about from side-to-side in a whip-like fashion. The legs were long and slender, an unusual trait for a therapod, but one quite fitting for the type of creature it was. Abby swallowed hard.

"It's a Chindesaurus."

"Do you think it can see us?"

"I wouldn't want to sit in front of the window and find out," replied Abby and she carefully moved away as Lester quietly removed himself from his seat to slip into the back of the van.

Hiding behind the two seats, Lester held his breath and looked at his bandaged hand. Despite what he had taken for it, it was still hurting and worse, he could see that when the bandage had last been applied, his hand had been bleeding still as some stains of blood were showing through.

"Do you think it can smell this?" Lester asked, nearly breathless at the sudden thought of inadvertently luring the creatures over to them.

Abby rubbed her head and replied, "I don't know how good their sense of smell would have been."

Lester sighed and let his head rest against the back of the seat. What worried him most about his injury was the blood-loss and how that would affect him in their attempt at escape, something that seemed irritatingly inevitable now.

A sudden snarl brought Lester's head up and he gazed quickly at Abby, who was staring at her side of the van. From Lester's side came the sound of clawed feet striking the gravel that was followed immediately by what he would define as "hungry grumbling". Something bumped the side of the van and one of the two Chindesaurs snarled in shock. Then something struck the glass on the windshield like a hard bump. The van rattled and Lester shut his eyes.

The last thing he ever wanted this day was to become the main course for a prehistoric beast. Lester knew he shouldn't have gone out on the field today. ~*~


End file.
